your house. stuart: the level of property crime in britain is five times higher than what it is in america. bad guys know for a fact that there is not guns in their. >> to believe -- [talking over each other] stuart: the public issuing of the information. that is what is wrong. >> i think it makes a lot of people uncomfortable. if there is someone out there that will target him, he has the gun to protect himself if a person breaks in. stuart: i do not think that newspapers should be doing that. >> i agree with you. it does not pass the smell test. it makes me uncomfortable to have that information. stuart: elizabeth macdonald, it is all yours. >> the latest on the fiscal cliff crisis.

why it is taking down the markets and white finding an answer, it always seems to come down to the last minute. the storm hitting the midwest and it is now hitting the northeast. oh canada, out of work americans are heading north to find jobs. top of the hour. time now for stocks. nicole petallides on the floor of the new york stock exchange. nicole: we are down about 72 points. the vix, the fear index, has an up arrow today. commodities are pulling back a little bit. i want to take a look at a name that is on the move. it is deckers. you may not necessarily know that you know what it is all

about. you know uggs. it turns out they are quite popular. while that chatter has been around, they will give decker a pop. >> could merge with timberland. we will be back at you in 15 minutes. for the first time in nearly 40 years, between christmas and new year's, it comes as lawmakers continue to scramble to get a fiscal cliff deal done. rich edson has the latest. rich: they are considering legislation here in the senate today. president obama says he called to talk to congressional

leaders, democrats and republicans, last evening. there is no progress here to report. president obama put it all on the house. >> they are operating without the house of representatives. it is being operated with a dictatorship of the speaker, not allowing the vast majority to get what they want. if the 250 would be brought up, it would pass overwhelmingly speaking that 250 he is discussing that would keep tax rates where they are for income amount for less than $250,000 increased those earning more. house speaker says senator reed should talk less and legislate more. senate democrats have not.

they want to extend all the current tax rates and avoid some of the spending cuts. democrats are on their opening offer. they basically have not moved anywhere. there is less than a week to go. >> senator reid talking about a less than $250,000 limit. speaking right. exactly. liz: more on the fiscal cliff. let's bring in peter. with us is former clinton advisor doug shoen. we have basically mr. boehner saying, look, you senate, you have not come up with anything. >> i think, unfortunately, we will probably get around it.

i think it is a worse outcome to avoid the cliff then to go over it. i think we should broaden the discussion and look at what is going on around the world. look at japan and europe. the japanese government is the glaring war on japanese citizens. it will create inflation. if the japanese citizens start to dump their bonds, they have been a bigger part then japan recently. that is a big problem for us. their euro has been quietly depreciating. if that goes out, that is a much bigger fiscal cliff. if the buyers of treasuries become sellers. liz: there are a lot of "if" in your discussion. the bond markets are still pretty -- nothing from the

bottom vigilantes yet. you were a clinton advisor. you saw in the mid- 90s bond yields really spike higher. that is the issue. if we see the economy healing, bond yields could go up. investors say, wait a second, why invest for bond. >> that is the key issue. we have not seen interest rates spike for a simple reason. nobody has confidence in the economy. nobody believes we will have robust economic growth. we could be heading towards a recession. especially given the disappointing christmas sales. i am frankly skeptical about what will happen with our economy either way. i think we will go over the cliff. i am getting more and more pessimistic by the hour.

liz: here is the issue, peter. we have dysfunction in high definition. i think the issue is it is not really a bond market issue right now, it is more house it hits consumer wallets. >> it will be a bond market issue. they will lose confidence in the u.s. government stability to pay its bills without trading mass inflation. that is the big problem. yes, interest rates have been artificially low. they will not stay artificially low. when foreigners start selling dollars, rates will go up and consumer prices will go up. take a look at what has happened in the crude oil market. that chart looks really strong. it will hit the consumer right in the wallet. ben bernanke has already said he does not care how much inflation

hits. >> you know, i just believe we are in a holding action until we resolve these immediate political problems. i agree with you was. this is a political crisis first and foremost. it is a weak economy. getting weaker. bond yields are going down. i think what peter speaks of is certainly possible in the near future. perhaps, the more distant future. bottom line, i expect more softening and a lack of confidence. >> the fact of the matter is, big government is very expensive. we need much higher taxes on the middle class. not on the rich, on the middle class. if they do not want to get stuck with this bill, we better start slashing --

[talking over each other] liz: we have to leave it there. thank you very much. really appreciate it. heading north for the winter. canada needs workers. out of work americans are happy to oblige. this is really an amazing story. oil is now trading just north of $90 a barrel. just down a fraction of a point. we will be right back. ♪

liz: welcome back. things are calming down from yesterday when a powerful winter storm pounded the nation's midsection. winter weather still affecting the northeast. >> the storm is still affecting the northeast. we actually have another storm system further out towards the

west that will start to get its act together. the good news is it is not forecasted to be anywhere near as powerful as the storm that produced those tornadoes on christmas day and even the day after across north carolina and over a foot of snow in portions of arkansas and illinois. the storm still producing snow over parts of new york, new hampshire and maine. some good the overt 2 feet of snow before this storm is over. the good news for new york city and boston is you did not get to deal with that snowfall. the wind has been howling over 40 miles per hour at times. especially during the overnight hours. that is what has reduced travel.

we are just going to continue to see a slow commute on the roadways and also at the airport. winter storm warning still in place. pretty much the entire state of maine still looking for snowfall. you are still talking about a prolonged period of time. there will be more heavy snow and strong winds. maine still looking to see over a foot of snow here for much of the state. liz: it looks like that storm is heading to canada. quarter past the hour. stocks now and every 15 minutes. nicole: when traders on wall street continued to talk about washington, that remains a serious issue here. everyone knows that has not been solved yet.

the truth is, there is nothing on the table. with that being said, you can see the dow and the nasdaq are down three quarters of 1%. the s&p is the worst of the bunch. bank of america and jpmorgan weighing on the dow jones industrials. i wanted to check in on toyota motors. we are watching this closely. they are doing this $1.1 billion agreement. the owners of the 16 million cars, a lot of complaints, obviously. they do not have to admit guilt. the settlement does not cover injuries and wrongful death. it does cover all of the economic concerns and crisis all these people suffered. liz: thank you so much. we will be back with you in just

a few. not only the weather, u.s. jobs are heading to canada also. with its high unemployment rate, watch out california. workers are the prime target. we are live in los angeles with this very interesting story. >> you are exactly right. canada is looking to double its oil production over the next 20 years. they do not have enough workers to get it out of the ground. some firms are willing to pay top dollar to convince americans to head north. >> canada is looking for a few good men and women. >> a lot of people retiring and we have a lot of major infrastructure projects, minds being billed, hydroelectric boards, all the infrastructure, oil and gas, it is kind of

endless. they are recruiting american workers. >> people who are engineers, people who have welding skills, people who have skill sets and construction. it is a wide range. >> john lafontaine is one of six other people who recently stood in line at a job fair in palm springs, florida. he is willing to make the move to support his children. >> opportunities present themselves. you might as well reach out and grab it. >> and opportunity back that they have almost double his current salary. in the end, help both nations. >> it is a win-win.

from that job fair, we are told about two dozen people are in a close to hire process and we are expecting or job fairs just like that one in california early next year. liz: they are getting free universal health care, good pay, quality schools, a lot of great benefits. >> yes. that is exactly right. the pay for a skilled worker is twice or three times what they can make in california, if they can find a job. one company that a big construction company, is looking for pipefitters. they are willing to pay up to $150,000 a year. that is pretty good money. liz: thank you, anita. the commodity markets are sitting on washington, d.c.'s next move and whether lawmakers can deliver an answer towards the fiscal crisis. we will focus on the oil market. that is next. first, let's take a look at the world currencies and how they

are faring against the u.s. dollar. ♪

liz: we have breaking news. you are looking at a live picture on your screen right

now. air force one just landing in washington, d.c. as president obama returns to the nation's capital. he cut short his hawaiian vacation. oil prices jumping nearly 3% since christmas time as fiscal cliff worries shake the commodities market. joining us now president of lipow associates. >> i think it is waiting on congress to do something. in the meantime, we have seen the dollar weakened against the euro. liz: we have gas around $3.25. what if we go over the fiscal cliff? >> if that is the case, i see us going down to about $2.10. liz: if we go to $82 a barrel, what will the forecast before june and july?

in the past, the nation has gone through some kind of panic attack expecting five dollars for a gallon of gas. >> i do not see five dollars at all next year. i do not even see four dollars. i expect $3.75 to be the height of the peak. what i expect is nothing will happen until the new year when both congress and the president come back. they enact new tax cuts. neither side is interested in any sort of significant spending cuts. liz: where do you see oil and gas prices in that scenario? >> well, in that scenario, i think oil prices could rise if we just had the tax cuts because the spending will continue unabated and the dollar will get weaker and commodity prices will get higher. liz: thank you. let's stay with oil.

we will bring in our very own jeff flock. what are you watching out there? jeff: we were at the cme yesterday. talk about what the impact of the fiscal cliff has done to the oil market. take a look at oil prices today. since christmas, we are up about 3%. take a look at the volume. if you look at the volume of trading, and "wall street journal" was onto this first talking about the falloff of volume in november, but it has really continued. take a look at what the normal average volume is and where we are today. by the way, out at the exxon mobil refinery, and caught this caught by the way, is one of the nation's newest refineries. a little news out here as we speak today.

they have to report this to the federal government because -- liz: we are having some technical difficulties with jeff flock. working on a solution to the debt crisis. first, some of today's winners, s&p. ♪

>> announcer: you never know when, but thieves can steal your identity and turn your life upside down. >> hi. >> hi. you know, i can save you 15% today if you open up a charge card account with us. >> you just read my mind. >> announcer: just one little piece of information and they can open bogus accounts, stealing your credit, your money and ruininyour reputation. that's why you need lifelock to relentlessly protect what matters most... [beeping...] helping stop crooks before

your identity is attacked. and now you can have the most comprehensive identity theft protection available today... lifelock ultimate. so for protection you just can't get anywhere else, get lifelock ultimate. >> i didn't know how serious identity theft was until i lost my cred and eventually i lost my home. >> announcer: credit monitoring is not enough, because it tells you after the fact, sometimes as much as 30 days later. with lifelock, as soon as our network spots a threat to your identity, you'll get a proactive risk alert, protecting you fore you become a victim. >> identity theft was a huge, huge problem for me and it's gone away because of lifelock. >> announcer: while no one can stop all identity theft, if criminals do steal your information, lifelock will help fix it, with our $1 million service guarantee. don't wait until you become the next victim. you have so much to protect and nothing to lose when you call lifelock now to get two full months of identity theft protection risk free. that's right, 60 days risk-free.

use promo code: gethelp. if you're not completely satisfied, notify lifelock and you won't pay a cent. order now and also get this shredder to keep your documents out of the wrong hands-- a $29 dollar value, free. get protected now. call the number on your screen or go to lifelock.com to try lifelock protection risk free for a full 60 days. use promo code: gethelp. plus get this document shredder free-- but only if you act right now. call the number on your screen now!

liz: we have breaking news for you. moments ago, air force one landing in washington, d.c. as president obama returns to the nation's capital to try to find some sort of deal on the fiscal cliff. we are also getting late word that senate majority leader harry reid will hold a news conference at 3:00 p.m. eastern time. this all comes on the heels that senator reid may be said we are going over the fiscal cliff. stocks now every 15 minutes. the "wall street journal" out with some retailers to watch in 2013. nicole: let's start off with harry reid's comments that we may go over the fiscal cliff. as a result, we are seeing a lot of down arrows. there is a market that started

off in the green and then read. that is the action that we are seeing. getting to the retailers, there are a lot of retailers that have had a lot of headlines and in many cases have been struggling. jcpenney would be one of them. down nearly 5% on the day. they have been a big loser. you had ron johnson come over from apple. the "wall street journal" talked about a few retailers. four of them, to be exact. including best buy. that would be another one. radioshack. and also sears. these are the four names we have been watching very closely. a lot of these names are significantly lower. do or die in 2013 for those names. liz: thank you so much. president obama landing in

washington just moments ago. cutting his vacation in hawaii sure to tackle the fiscal cliff. reports calling the possibility of a deal before the new year "virtually impossible." let's bring in former press secretary to al gore and we also have brad blakeman. they are both joining us from washington, d.c. "the house has already passed legislation to avoid the fiscal cliff, but senate democrats have not." what do you make of that feedback they are having what amounts to a staring contest right now. it is legislation that would keep tax cuts for those making

under $250,000 a year. the house does not have any plans to come back before january 1. liz: the house does have a bill that would not hurt small businesses and the job creators in this country. for some reason they seem to be avoiding that very important issue for the u.s. economy. >> what i make of it is, it all goes back to the leadership of the president. the president created this crisis. remember, he was the one who had a bipartisan commission on the debt. they came back with their proposals. two years ago, the president could have avoided all of this by having a bill that not only took care of our problems today, but well into our future. we would have been well on the way to recovery. having said that, certainly, the rules of the house and senate, in my opinion, prevent a big bill from happening.

the congressional budget office said they do not have time to score it. the only hope right now is to have a bill that will maintain the status quo, past january and all of this must be revisited in january along with raising the debt ceiling. liz: senator reid talking about the 250,000 crowd. shouldn't the democrats now the thing, look, we do want to be raising the taxes. >> no. they said they will not be raising taxes a dime on people making over a million dollars a year. >> that is wrong. we do not want to raise taxes on those making more than $250,000. certainly, we have already signaled the fact that we would go as high as $400,000. the president wants us to negotiate. >> that is not true, brad. plan b failed in the house

because john boehner has a segment of his party that will not go along with very reasonable -- >> no, no. we will go along with revenue. there has not been any spending reduction on behalf of the american people and the president. we only control one third of government. you guys control two thirds and you have refused to lead through this crisis. >> if there was a bill that would raise taxes on people over $400,000 a year that that would pass? [talking over each other] >> look, a revenue bill would pass provided that it was matched by spending reductions. we will not take from people without giving them the insurance that we are not spending more that we are taking in. liz: thank you. great to be with you both. next up, we have good news on the housing front. the latest word from the

commerce department has new-home sales at at the highest level we have seen in more than two years. new single-family home sales increased by 4.4% last month from october. it showed home prices up nearly 7% for this year. the winter blast that wrecked lives in the south and kept most of the nation at home and caused the death of about six people over christmas makes one last stop in the northeast. first, let's take a look at the treasury markets. we do not see a lot of action there. ♪ ♪ [ male announcer ] this is karen anjeremiah. they don't know it yet, but they' gonna fall in love, get married, have a couple of kids,

[ children laughing ] move to the country, and live a long, happy life together where they almost never fight about money. [ dog barks ] because right after they get married, they'll find some retirement peopl who are paid on salary, not commission. they'll get straightforward guidance and be able to focus on other things, like each other, which isn't rocket science. it's just common sense. from td ameritrade.

>> i am adam shapiro with your fox business brief. stocks extended losses into a fourth session as washington battles. the u.s. is likely to roll off the fiscal cliff in just a few days. reid will speak to supporters about the negotiation at 3:00 p.m. eastern. right now, the dow is down. the conference index fell to the lowest level in four months. the six month outlook also fell to the lowest level since 2011. jobless claims fell to nearly a 4.5 year low last week with 350,000 americans filing for first-time benefits. that's the latest from the fox business network. giving you the power to prosper. ♪

liz: welcome back. as if this fixing of the fiscal cliff is not hard enough. we have a storm going across the states. we have live team coverage. anna du quoin man is. let's start with peter barnes. peter: everything here at reagan national is pretty normal. there are a few delays. i looked at the schedule for maine which is getting hit very hard and there are flights canceled.

nationally, fewer flights canceled today than yesterday. just 548 so far compared to 800 yesterday. about 700 on christmas day. you can see the domino affect of a storm like this for the nation's air traffic. flight radar, all of the orange airplanes that are on this map represent flight delays of five minutes or more and most of those flights are orange. members of the house do not have to worry about getting back here to washington for any kind of votes on the fiscal cliff yet because speaker boehner has not gotten anything to vote on. he has promised house members that he will give them 48 hours notice if they have to come back to both. the senate is in session. they are considering some legislation not related to the fiscal cliff. i asked a spokesman and no

response. i did hear that they have two republican senators in maine. what kind of advice are members of congress getting for traveling? they are getting the same advice as we get. take a listen. >> we would tell a member of congress the same thing we would tell any other traveler. check with their airlines before they head for the airport. things here in washington are in real good shape for their arrival. let's check in with nana to see if those numbers will have any problems getting all. >> we are in pennsylvania. we had to stop here because road conditions deteriorated so quickly last night. i wanted to mention this, the first winter storm of 2012 is

now claiming 15 lives. this is expected to dump a couple of feet and snow in some places. it looks like it is only 4 inches here at the moment. the totals were not where they have been in years past. i did speak with the borough president here in clarks summit. because of the lack of snow last year, it really helped their bottom line. they had a surplus in their budget. they were able to stockpile some of the salt they used this year. they are just happy this blizzard was not any worse. >> we are on a good track this year. the weather, you take what you get. we will make lemonade out of it, i guess. >> you heard governor andrew

cuomo has set up an emergency operation center. he did that yesterday as the snow totals are expected to be quite high in upstate new york. he has also warned the power companies who have been criticized for their slow response after superstar sandy that they need to be on their toes. liz: thank you anna and peter. good reporting out there. amazon topping the list of most satisfying websites to shop on. with us, shibani joshi. she has the details. shibani: amazon has been the best for a number of years. [talking over each other] shibani: not all online shopping sites are the same. thankfully, we experience this directly. we are also getting this data. online research company

releasing their annual results. for the eighth year in a row, amazon is the number one online retailing sites. also, other names, you may or may not be familiar with, qvc, estée lauder, etc. amazon has such a wide range of goods. it is certainly an easy to use site. the losers this year, some of these i have not even heard of. nutrisystem, that is a weight loss system. you have those flash websites. they are coming in at the bottom of the list. 24,000 people responded. liz: who had the biggest drop? shibani: not surprising,

jcpenney. the confusion of what is happening in the stores. also, apple. that was a big one. it saw a drop because it is coming out with new products and as they get incorporated into the website, it becomes confusing. it is not an evening translucent experience. liz: great report, shibani. next up, a quarter to the hour. stocks every 15 minutes. the dow is down on fiscal cliff peers. it was down triple digits. it appears to be back up. nicole: everyone has their focus on washington. they are waiting on something to come out of washington. they need to solve the fiscal cliff. let's take a look at the major averages. they are all down or then a half of a percentage each.

ford adding over 2300 workers in michigan. bank of america hit a new 52 week high. smith and wesson, they make guns. they have been under pressure after the shooting in connecticut. now, they are back in action. research in motion, but very tan, waiting on that. there were concerns on how many sales actually occurred. liz: thank you. even if we can get an answer to the debt crisis from washington, d.c., the real damage may be done by the new regulation. first, some of today's winners. take a look. ♪

liz: next up, a solution to the looming debt crisis may do little to save us from an economic disaster. the white house is working on a brand-new set of regulations that could handcuff business growth. sam, basically, now it is the white house throwing banana peels in a form of new rules. >> well, just based on white house alone, there are roughly two dozen rules waiting to be pushed out. economically significant needs a minimum impact to the economy of $100 million or more. there is roughly $15 billion worth of rules sitting at the white house right now. not in insignificant number.

across the board. financial, energy, there are several energy conservation rules that are at the white house right now. there is also epa rules at the white house. it spans the sector. a lot will depend on how fast these rules come out. it is in a pretty slow pace as of late. liz: we know that the epa has been issuing a lot of rules. will that basically slow the new regulations coming out of the epa or not? >> it does not seem likely. apparently, her deputy is in place to take over the reins. for example, just last friday, they released what is known as rules for boilers and submit kilns.

she announced today. according to white house documents, by spring you busy final rules for greenhouse gas regulations for new power plants. liz: how many of these new rules are confirmed by the u.s. congress or are they just coming out of regulatory agencies. is it 50%? >> we have actually looked at that data in terms of what has a judicial deadline. the rules are 10%. now, under dodd-frank, that is expected to come out in january. a lot of these rules, especially out of the independent agencies, those are pretty much --

congress does not, for example, direct them to do any particular rulemaking. liz: my number is probably 70%. >> in terms of how many new laws -- liz: that's right. >> there were 3000 regulations. liz: thank you. good to be with you, sir. really appreciated. forget the fiscal cliff. more an action from d.c. could leave another glass half empty. sandra smith with us with today's trade. sandra: people's grocery bills may go up. you are talking about that exclusion of a farm bill that may not be part of the fiscal cliff negotiations even if we do get a deal that by the end of the year. tom vill sack has been trying to get everyone into a room to hammer out a five-year deal.

he has already conceded that it is unlikely that we will see that done and those farm subsidies could come out of the market. analysts are saying that prices could go up to the six to eight dollars a gallon range. milk just one of the many grocery items that could go up in prices. this is one aspect that maybe you have not thought about when it comes to your wallet. sterling smith over at citigroup says we could see less milk consumption. a lot of those dairy farmers could go out of business. liz: thank you for that, xander. the president back in washington, d.c. to deal with the fiscal crisis. he reportedly talked with congressional leaders last night. what we are hearing from senator harry reid suggests we are nowhere close to a solution. and the age of the robot is here and it is costing people their jobs.

dennis dale and shibani joshi pick up our team coverage next on "markets now." ♪ [ malennouncer ] it's tt time of year again. time for citi price rewind. because your daughter really wants that pink castle thing. and you realldon't want to pay more than you have to. only citi price rewind automatically searches for the lowest price. and if it findone, you get refunded the difference. just use your citi card and register your purchase online. have a super sparkly day! ok. [ male announcer ] now all youeed is a magic carriage. citi price rewind. start saving at citi.com/pricerewind.

on the jury. dennis: i am dennis kneale. president obama just arriving in washington as we teeter on the fiscal cliff. we will talk with two congressman about their chamber's failure to work out a deal and what comes next. shibani: 15 lives lost in the winter storm that blanketed the northern part of the country and with that tornadoes in the south, travel is still a mess out there. it will be a huge headache to get people home. we will have the latest. dennis: robots taking over more and more jobs. a guest warns pushing for a-minimum wage workers are quickening the spread of automation that will take their jobs. shibani: taking over the world.

time for stocks every 15 minutes. nicole petallides on the floor of the stock exchange. fiscal cliff fears seem to be taking down the markets today. nicole: that is the environment we have been in and for much of december, the worries continue and they escalated and never thought we were coming to some sort of bipartisan agreement, we didn't get exactly that so we continued to sell off a you see that the dow is down 89 points which is almost 3/4%. the nasdaq and the is and be down 8%. when you talk about the month of the summer the most major averages the to the downside 1.3% and diaz and be handed out virtually flat. despite a great year on wall street they are high here. here's a look at the vix. the vix is up 4%, it is known

traditionally as volatility and a fear engage and that is what we are seeing. is up 20.6 and that is the first time we have seen of except this time. people are nervous. ashley: thank you. president obama just arriving at the white house after cutting short his hawaiian vacation. the senate trickles back into washington for a last attempt at the fiscal cliff compromise. shibani: team coverage, peter barnes standing by at reagan national airport where lawmakers are revising falling snow delays and we start with rich edson on capitol hill where the senate is finally in session but are going to get any work done? >> we will get work done but on a few unrelated issues, nothing to do with the fiscal cliff, they're talking about a couple other bills. president obama back in washington d.c. spoke to all the congressional leaders, top democrats and republicans in the house and senate, no update, or

signs of real progress, senior administration official says this one is up to congress to figure out. house republicans say we need the senate to act, senators say we need republicans to act. terry reed hit the floor a short while ago and said it looks like we are headed over the fiscal plan and called on the house to set -- pass the senate plan. >> i see the speaker painting the escape hatch, put the economic base in your own state as speaker of the house. million of middle-class families are nervously watching, waiting and counting down the moment until our taxes go up. >> that escape hatch would keep taxes where they are for families earning less than $250,000 a year and increase for those earning more. a response from house speaker john boehner's office, spokesperson saying harry reid should talk less and legislate more. the house has passed legislation to avoid the entire fiscal

cliff, senate democrats have not. we are basically at square one. democrats and republicans all calling on the other party to pass exactly what they had passed earlier this year. we go to the other side of the potomac river and peter barnes at national airport. >> my eyes are peeled for john boehner who was back home in ohio for the holidays. haven't seen him yet. but i can -- yesterday when the storm came through, just a few cancellations and delays, i can't say that about airports for the rococo especially in new england. nationally there are fewer flights canceled than yesterday, 630 one compared to 1800 yesterday and 700 the day before. the house actually does not have to be back in session because it

doesn't have anything from the senate to vote on especially john boehner and not all the house into session but the senate is in session today. i asked senate democratic leader harry reid expect all the democrats to be here despite all the problems with the weather around the country and got no response on that. spokesperson for mitch mcconnell asked the same question and he said it was possible that some senators might be delayed in getting back here. we should point out for example there are two republican senators in maine. shibani: good luck getting home. got some work to do. dennis: it is now up to the senate to come up with a fiscal cliff compromise because the house failed to work out a plan and we are joined by two house

members, marcy captor and republican congressman tom mcclintock. thank you for being with us. let's start with you, during the presidential debate, president obama said flatly we are not going to go over the fiscal cliff. it is not going to happen. is that still the case do you think? >> that has been president obama's position and it is my position and the position of the democratic caucus in the house, the position of the democratic caucus in the senate. the problem has been in the house sadly, there's a serious step on the republican side of the aisle and we were unable to reach resolution compromise, to find the scrimmage line and make a compromise to keep the ball moving forward to continued economic growth. because of the lack of compromise even the sales during the holiday season were not as great as anticipated.

people are factoring in -- my tax benefits, maybe my taxes will be raised by $22 million a year come january and is having a downdraft on the economy. very irresponsible. i want this solve the. >> dennis: your democratic colleagues said the problem is division among republicans and thought that was a republican/democrat thing. >> it is both. there's plenty of blame to go around on both sides. democrats are to blame for eat the ridge ideological crusade, the congressional budget office and ernst and young warned will destroych ideological crusade, the congressional budget office and ernst and young warned will destroy 2,700,000 middle-class jobs and republicans should try to save as many people as possible. that is the impasse and ultimately the leadership of the house is responsible for not

having the house in session right now to be hammering this out. marcy and i can trade charges back-and-forth on tv but we are not in the same room to actually deliver 8 -- deliberate as the legislative process is designed to do. i am embarrassed to be in my district when the house should be in washington hammering this out. dennis: give some of vice the u.s. senate colleagues. should democrats be so in favor of taxing the rich that they let us go off of the fiscal cliff? >> i have been saying look, if it is $2,200 for the average middle-class family that is at risk here, if we don't act, why don't we just give everybody $2,200 including the rich? they won't get on $108,000 more, they will get $2,200 in benefits. i don't know if congressman mcclintock will agree with me

but if we were in the room and able to get the committees to work in a normal way we could reach agreement. we are basically waiting for a few leaders to try to reach agreement and i wish senator harry reid great luck in the senate because the ball is sadly in their court because the house where all spending bills, all these budget decisions should start is stuck, unable to discuss what we should be discussing on this show. dennis: if she wasn't being ironic or sarcastic she just said fine, keep taxes where they are for everyone even if we can soak the rich. what do you say? >> much as it pains me to agree i think she's right on this point. when did we stop teaching civics in school? the president is not part of the legislative branch, he is not part of the deliberative process. he has a separate branch of government with an altogether different function. the house and senate were designed to act independently of

each other, come up with their own implants and once they have done so we have a conference process that has evolved over centuries, good at resolving differences between the two houses that that process has not been invoked. it has degenerated into a situation where a couple of legislative leaders and the president sit behind closed doors, come up with a clever scheme and brought it to the senate and house for a take-it-or-leave-it vote. that process doesn't work very well. that process produces bad policy and that is where i fault the leadership. dennis: thank you for being with us. sounds like we ought to lock out the leaders and let the rank-and-file members of congress get involved and take this over. thanks for being with us. >> i have been hooked up for days and i'm ready to go back. shibani: the best and worst of online shopping sites may have been rated. attention online shoppers, we will tell you who scored highest and lowest coming up next.

dennis: airlines are making millions of of add-on fees for legroom and the like and we will tell you why the government is investigating. they don't want anyone making money anywhere it seems like and raising the minimum wage will mean more robots taking over your jobs. shibani: as we do every dime let's look at oil is trading after 2.5% increase backing of a little bit just over $0.50 a barrel.

shibani: 15 past the hour, time for a check on stocks. dennis: team coverage. sanders smith and trading pits of the cme, biggest movers and commodities. the dow is down triple digits. >> the dow was down 100 points on the dow jones industrials just holding on to that 13,000 mark, 13,016 on the dow. that is a loss of 1/4%. the tech having nasdaq has seen accelerated selling at this point as well. the nasdaq is down 1%, and the s&p not too far off, holding at 1406. the fear index above that 20 level so there is nervousness here on this market and volumes

are two hundred million shares changing hands. the stock about american automaker ford. ford as interesting news out today, they are creating 2,350 new hourly jobs in six plants in southeastern michigan. one place where they produced the ford fusion, there's a look at the stock, $12.46 a share, a loss of 2.6% but creating jobs is music to americans's years because that is what america needs. that is the latest on the floor of the stock exchange. let's go to chicago, sandra smith. sandra: you are working with all that cold weather and snow in the central plains, this may be a shock to you the natural gas prices on the decline today. normal you get higher prices that cost more for everybody to heat their homes during the storms but we're looking at a

forecast for warmer temperatures going forward. that is what the trader is selling natural gas in the trading session. it is confirmed we have above-average normal temperatures that we are not going to work for a glut of supplies. the forecast for warmer temperatures coming to january, $3.40 per british thermal unit, natural gas prices up 11% for 2012 so you're still paying more particularly those that live along the east coast, still paying more this time of year than you were last year this time so pay attention to those heating bills and everyone watching the natural gas prices, because of the christmas holiday we will get the natural gas inventory report tomorrow rather it and the typical thursday report we get today, that will be at 10:3 eastern and 9:30 central tomorrow, friday it will be closely watched and analysts are looking for a drop in

supplies because of the cold weather we had. shibani: thank you. warm weather not good for natural gas but good for retailers who always blame the weather for people not getting into stores. as we go towards the edge of the fiscal cliff, we have your survival kit, moves you need to make right now to protect your portfolio and your 401(k). you won't want to miss that. dennis: the last stop by the winter storm that blanketed the midwest and a frenzy of tornadoes in the south will pay a visit to the northeast. we add up the damage ahead. shibani: look at how world currencies are faring against the u.s. dollar. a lot of down arrows. copd makes it hard to breathe,

but with advair, i'm breathing better. so now i can be in the scene. advair is clinically proven to help significantly improve lung function. unlike most copd medications, advair contains both an anti-inflammatory and a long-acting bronchodilator working together to help improve your lung function all day.

advair won't replace fast-acting inhalers for sudden symptoms and should not be used more than twice a day. people with copd taking advair may have a higher chance of pneumonia. advair may increase your risk of osteoporosis and some eye problems. tell your doctor if you have a heart condition or high blood pressure before taking advair. if you're still having difficulty breathing, ask your doctor if including advair could help improve your lung function. get your first full prescription free and save on refills at advaircopd.com.

shibani: do you know how much your airline ticket rich because you? for many passengers their travel about finding the cheapest fare but airlines offer more and more ad on services, anything from boarding early to premium seating to bed ridge fees, the

ability to comparison shop is nearly impossible. online ticket is like expedia and orbits are up in arms complaining airlines won't provide the information in a simple way and the department of transportation is investigating the issue, challenges they keep changing policies and is hard to put it out there when they don't know what they're doing. dennis: customers go to the airline foremost transparent, the market decide that, let's investigate everything everywhere. that is with government investigators do. let's talk robots. robot partaking over the work place. >> it does not compute. dennis: not exactly that kind of robot but robotic computers that can perform many tasks, supermarkets, restaurants and the next guest warns that if the minimum wage is raised the way the unions want to do even more jobs will be automated and eliminated. research fellow at the

employment policy institute, we always hear you're going to raise the minimum wage and hundreds of thousands of jobs, you have a new twist and a lot of those jobs will be lost permanently to robots. please explain. >> the minimum wage increases for fast food restaurants, these are restaurants with narrow profit margins, a couple choices one labor costs go up, they can raise the price of hamburger considerably or find a way to make a hamburger for less money and you are seeing technology that makes 360 hamburgers per hour that have no complaints about wages or walkouts. this is a brave new world we are assuring in with public policy, the surge of that would be there otherwise. >> this will not hurt mcdonald's workers, in new york unions are pushing to double the minimum wage for burger flippers to $15 an hour.

there's a new machine that pays for itself in less than a year under that wage structure. >> that is right. $15 an hour is the demand in new york but not just mcdonald's and fast food. if you look elsewhere in the country, there are restaurant chains, cable service chains that experimented with technology that lets customers order and pay at the table with very little service required. whether it is $15 an hour in new york or building congress that would raise the wage for restaurant servers by 220% the changes will be the same and it will mean less service and more customer self service. dennis: i was reading some notes here, the federal minimum wage is up 40% in ten years, 28 states have passed higher wages than that and teenager unemployment is at all-time highs of 40% or 50%. why do politicians not understand when you force minimum-wage up you eliminate

jobs rather than help more workers? >> it tends to be a good issue in the campaign season and unfortunately the economic details don't always trickle out of the discourse but we are at a point in time where you have unemployment at record levels for so long it is tough to ignore the evidence and we will see more evidence if they get their way at a $15 minimum wage because people will be placing their order on a computer screen and have the computer making a burger in the back and scratch their heads and wonder what happened to those jobs. dennis: i hope your message will get across. thank you very much. cheryl: as long as robots can't read teleprompter we are good. the stalemate in washington comes down to these two men. can the president and john boehner finally end this mess over the nation's debt? the clock is ticking. dennis: here's a look at today's s&p winners.

dennis: the dow below 15,000 one cliff years. fireworks on the floor of the senate. harry reid with choice words for the house speaker. >> the american people don't understand the house of representatives is operating

without a house of representatives. it has been operated with the dictatorship of the speaker, not allowing the vast majority of the house of representatives to get what they want. dennis: when do we hear from john boehner? more importantly when the deal gets done? more on the winter storm that wrecked the holidays for many americans, last stop in the northeast, live team coverage and no secrets here, popular show downtown at the premiere's next month and you can find out what happens on line. are you going to peak? cheryl: don't tell me. dennis: who cares? cheryl: it is 30 past the hour, stocks >> caller: minutes and the market is down 100 points and down below 13,000. nicole: i don't watch anything besides fox business. we broke the 13,000 marks a we are 12,099, we're down 150

points, session lows, the fear index to the up side. the dollar is stronger which is pressuring things around here. banking stocks leading the way to the downside, names like bank of america and jpmorgan waiting on the dow. let's move on and take a look at the home builders. home builders have been an interesting bunch. over the years they have been stellar performers because the housing market has been improving over time. you can see they are under significant pressure like the market itself. lennar is down 2.3%. we got the case of the numbers yesterday and home sales on the rise to the highest level in two years of 2.4%. any investor, i cannot imagine would be happy with the 350% return in one year. pretty amazing. dennis: always making money somewhere. shibani: your fiscal cliff survival kit with the deadline

fast approaching. our next guest says investors should look beyond the cliff and not just in the united states for gains. kevin is managing director of wealth management, the applied trust. joining us from louisville, thanks for joining us. i want to start talking about how markets are reacting to the fiscal clip back and forth. markets were down 20 points yesterday down 130 points when nothing has changed from yesterday to today. are the markets reading things properly? >> i think the markets are reacting to short-term news and certainly we expected more volatility around the fiscal cliff until its resolution we will see more volatility, more of the same. what investors have to realize is to look through that and think long term, it will be just fine. we are not going to get a resolution by december 31st but we most likely will get one in the early part of january and

hopefully we can start to let more long-term things, look at earnings that should continue to propel stocks forward. shibani: everyone is eager to move all of this drama and look to the upside to potentially come in the new year. what sort of things can we do now? how are you positioning yourself for after the cliff? >> we like large caps quite a bit in 2013 for a number of reasons. one is we are entering the fourth year of a world market in march and large cap tend to outperform in the latter stages of a bull market. large caps are very cheap on a relative basis compared to small caps and looking at historic evaluations. shibani: any sectors -- large cap is a big broad category. >> there are a few sectors we would favor. energy would be one sector that

could certainly benefit. in 2013. consumer staples would be another sector as the growth rates are projected to be slower in 2013. shibani: you like international plays, emerging markets. is this concept played out at this point? >> we don't think so. we think emerging-market are real accelerating in 2013, central banks more focused on tightening in the last year or so and now they are not as concerned about that. little more from the central bank policy perspective and that should aid emerging market economies and emerging-market stocks. shibani: thank you for joining us, giving some perspective and something to look forward to after all the washington drama. thanks very much. dennis: online grocer fresh direct posting $400 million a year serving new york, new jersey, connecticut and

pennsylvania and the site went down on christmas day and wasn't fully restored until yesterday not because of flooded demand for a dog and ham but the company didn't pay to up its web address for the year. would have cost $38. instead of vibrant pictures of vegetables and meats, they saw a generic web page for domain registrar network solutions saying the address needed to be renewed. no matter how automated things that you need a human being to push the buttons. shibani: and a $39. that problem has been solved. should dennis: their lucky they didn't lose it to some squatter. shibani: thousands of new yorkers starving because we don't know how to get our food without fresh direction. the dow is now at session lows down 138 points. we talked a few moments ago falling below the 15,000 mark as the markets, the world sitting here waiting for congress to get

its act in order and the fiscal clip. dennis: all along to work out and some traders are thinking maybe not. these guys are crazier than i thought. shibani: the northeast shovelling out after the latest winter weather. we got the latest forecast and an update on flight delays and power outages across the country. dennis: the white stuff isn't bad news for everyone. record snowfall means big business for steve resorts. we got the ceo. shibani: let's look how the ten year treasury is fairing down four basis points. [ indistinct shouting ] ♪

[ indistinct shouting ] [ male announcer ] time and sales data. split-second stats. [ indistinct shouting ] ♪ it's so close to the options floor... [ indistinct shouting, bell dinging ] ...you'll bust your brain box. ♪ all onhinkorswim from td ameritrade. ♪

>> i am adam shapiro with your fox business brief. a tough day for the market with a few days left before tax hikes and budget cuts go into effect. harry reid says the u.s. is likely to roll off of the fiscal cliff and will speak to reporters about those negotiations. mortgage rates finished out the year near historic lows. freddie mac says the average for a 30 year fixed mortgage east to 3.35%. the empire state building is one step closer to going public. the management of the iconic skyscraper has been given the go-ahead by the securities and exchange commission to allow the building to be included in a proposed real-estate investment funds. empire state realty creates as much as $1 billion in an initial public offering. that is the latest from the fox business network giving you the power to prosper.

shibani: thing they're calling down after winter weather wallop. it was messy in new york city, hundreds of flights have been canceled or delayed across the nation leaving travelers stranded. let's check with the latest from maria molina at the fox business center for update. looking pretty good today. >> starting to improve, suspecting across new england, some areas expecting over a foot of snow. i want to show you guys we have another storm on the heels of this, slowly starting to develop throughout the day. some light snow across portions of the northern plains and i land minnesota. by tomorrow we will see it folding moisture from the gulf of mexico and producing areas of

rain in alabama, mississippi and louisiana, places hit hard on christmas day by a last storm with those tornadoes and left damaged the ninth, we have cleanup efforts shining through those, and in the northeast the same storm producing areas of snow. this storm not forecast to be anywhere near as bad as the last, as impressive as we are getting. we are talking a couple inches as we head into saturday. will win, more snow forecast across the northeast and we're not done with this storm yet. of steve new york still snowing, vermont, new hampshire and across the state of maine, heavy snowfall still falling right now. many roads covered with snow, dangerous conditions, cancellations and flight delays, in philadelphia as that storm continues to pull away and la guardia delays averaging 30 minutes or so, nothing too major

but ongoing bad weather here, winter storm warning in place across upstate new york, vermont, new hampshire and maine and massachusetts because not just the snow but the wind picks up and produces near whiteout conditions on the roadway. dennis: thank you. for more on how the northeast is shoveling out head to fox news's anna clement in pennsylvania. >> the associated press is reporting the death toll has crept up to 15 as far as road conditions go. plows have been working in tandem along the highways to work as efficiently as possible. the snow has let up in pennsylvania but still coming down in new york and the new england states. governor andrew cuomo setup an emergency operations center and warned power companies to really be on their toes especially

following the criticism they receive for their slow response following superstorm sandy. we had to change our plans last night and stay here ritter and traveling north because the road conditions deteriorated so quickly. we still have several inches on the ground. i spoke with the council president who says she is happy the conditions are not any worse and this wasn't a major blizzard for them. >> it is a snow that hasn't been a difficult one. last year we had a budget surplus. as long as a pretty safe, we like winter sports. >> also able to stockpile assault from last your using that to solve the roadways here this year. as far as travel goes for holiday folks over the river and

through the woods trying to make it home there were 1600 flight cancellations yesterday and now we are reporting over 500 today. as far as airports bill la guardia and newer car operating on a 1-hour delay. back to you. dennis: thank you. loving that hat. it is almost a quarter till. every 15 minutes stocks now, stocks are still sucking wind. nicole: we are seeing the dow not too far off of session lows, 145 points a moment ago, we have broken below the 13,000 mark. all of this on worries about washington and the fiscal cliff, concerned about the fact that lawmakers can't come to some sort of agreement in order to make this thing happen already and there is a sense of frustration on wall street at the same time everybody wants to know when and what they will be side. we are seeing financials under pressure, stocks are in the red,

we talked about retailers, homebuilders and a lot of names coming under pressure, the oil service index lower. here's a look at facebook, down over 2.5%, $38 ipo in may. we are seeing it as a big loser on the nasdaq. you were touching on the story, mark zuckerberg at sister coast of the picture and it went to everybody. that is a side street. the big picture is the stock is the number one loser in the nasdaq. back to you. shibani: her phone and getting out is the best thing that ever happened to her. she got 25,000 more twitter followers. it was not all an accident. nicole: like an hathaway getting out of a car. shibani: forget black gold, more like white gold has been a very white christmas for my next guest who's ski resort has seen 200 inches of snow so far this

season. joining me with this week's on the road is and be worth, president --andy werth. 200 inches of snow is off to a good start. how is business so far? >> good morning. thanks for having me. 20 feet of snow so far. the second snowiest december in our resource's history. things are moving along quite well. we benefit from having a great airport down a road, 45 minutes down the road, hasn't realized any of the delays and challenges that have the fall on the east coast. we are off to a great start and feeling good about our business as we complete the holiday season. shibani: the most important ingredient for success is having power on the slopes. we have consumer confidence numbers today falling, we have this mess going on in washington and retail sales this holiday

showed consumers are hesitant. i use seeing any of that where you are? >> we closely tracked consumer confidence sentiments through michigan and conference board and we see it in our business and we anticipate what consumer is thinking and our business is not just about snow but the entire vacation experience and much more. there is no doubt this is on 25 plus% of our customers' minds and we are doing everything to add value to all products and vacation experiences, that includes two free days for season pass holders so we are in a constant state of adding value and that helps to mitigate the challenges washington d.c. is providing. varney that what you doing to lure customers? there are a lot of choice is in and around where you are, a lot of choices in terms of ski destinations. how do you get a customer to come and shoes you rather than something else? >> it is a very competitive

environment. in the western united states particularly lake tahoe. the great thing is whether you ski area resorts or alpine meadows or other fine resorts you will find pretty incredible vacation experiences. number one is to unddrstand last year we had a very challenging snow year we invested a great deal in experience from a capital investment perspective. in our underwriting of alpine meadows, recent acquisitions, we have put in $70 million to invest in the experience. that includes snowmaking improvements, snowcat improvements, snow grooming improvements, retail dining and more. a great deal has gone into improving the overall experience on all facets of the experience and it is all towards making the vacation experience more friendly, more approachable because over 6,000 acres of skiing could be had when you buy a lift ticket or season pass at a resort. in and of itself that is

remarkable. the focus is on the entire vacation experience. shibani: it looks beautiful where you are. the video where we have ski slopes reminds me i need to take a vacation. we will seek that soon. >> we would welcome you. shibani: thanks very much. dennis: reminds me how much money knee surgeons make. can't wait for the next season of downtown at the to begin? you don't have to. we have the scoop for you. shibani: who are the biggest retail winners and losers when it came to holiday shopping like experiences? the answer may surprise you. dennis: look at today's winners on the nasdaq. [ male announcer ] you are a business pro.

omnipotent of opportunity. you know how to mix business... with business. and you...rent from national. because only national lets you choose any car in the aisle. and go. you can even take a full-size or above. and still pay the mid-size price. i could get used to this. [ male announcer ] yes, you could business pro. yes, you could. go national. go like a pro. we believe the more you know, theetter you trade. so we have ongoing webinars and interactive learning, plus, in-branch seminars at over 500 locations, where our dedicated support teams help you know more

so your money can do more. [ rodger ] at scottrade, seven dollar trades are just the start. our teams have the infortion you want when you need it. it's anothereason more investors are saying... [ all ] i'm with scottrade.

dennis: sticky wicket for fans of downtown andy, the much beloved miniseries premieres next month. you can learn every secret of the new season on line. for the uninitiated which includes me since i mispronounced downtown andy is named for offical country estate inhabited by an aristocratic family and many servants after world war i. bore me to tears but the show has won a golden globe, prime time emmy and will soon see

whether the online's boilers hurt the ratings. time warner cable playing tough, to take a pay cut and leave our line of. two networks are among the targets, the ifc channel and we tv charge cable systems less than a dime, time-warner cable is trying to make it zero. do you feel your spider cents tingling? the 700th and final issue of the amazing spider-man out this week. 15 years after his debut, a final fight with the evil doctor octopus, that is the opening a shoe, loses -- he inhabits the super euro's body and mind and reborn next month as superior spider-man. shibani: i wish the camera was on you because you were acting out is if you were spider-man. pretty cool, going digital i imagine. dennis: much more with spider-man and downtown at the.

shibani: amazon.com arrange for the eighth straight fourier for releasing the online research company releasing its 2012 retail satisfaction index and on top, amazon, eight time 0 followed closely by qvc, estee lauder, amazon's success with its customers is no real surprise. imus number one consumer. a couple big names tumbled using a 100 point scale for surveys over 24,000 customers using the 100 biggest retail web sites out there. j.c. penney, walmart and apple lost some ground. that may surprise people out there. apple in particular losing three points at four year low on the index, j.c. penney lost five points and satisfaction and walmart dropped by point but confusion about the identity of the overall user experience on the web is what they're talking about. dennis: walmart is the second

largest online retailer in the world after amazon. that they could come close to getting it right is great news. they have done better. the president back in washington -pto deal with the cliff crisis but what are we hearing from senator harry reid? it suggests we are nowhere near a solution. shibani: washington's in actions during traders and stocks down big today, tracy byrnes and lori rothman are up with up to the minute details on what is happening.